Resilience is deterrence: Why Taiwan’s cyber weakness is a strategic risk

Taiwan’s democratic system, technological prowess, and strategic location have made it an essential actor in geopolitics. The island produces nearly 90 percent of the world’s highly advanced semiconductors, and its proximity to key shipping lanes in the Indo-Pacific makes it a critical node in global trade. Unfortunately, Taiwan’s importance also renders it vulnerable.

China’s aggressive approach to Taiwan incorporates gray-zone tactics, military signaling, disinformation, and economic coercion. But Taiwan is increasingly under assault in cyberspace as well. In 2024, the island faced an average of 2.4 million cyberattacks per day. These ranged from probes of government systems to intrusions into energy infrastructure and logistics networks. Although few of these attacks made global headlines, they represent a steady campaign of digital attrition. Should Beijing escalate toward conflict, these systems will likely be China’s first targets. Disabling would both weaken Taiwan’s defense capabilities and paralyze its society without expending a single missile.

The threat of cyber warfare is already shaping how modern conflicts unfold. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 began with a barrage of cyberattacks designed to degrade Ukraine’s command and control infrastructure and isolate Kyiv from international support. These attacks, which accompanied kinetic operations, offered a playbook for future cyber-enhanced engagements that Beijing is studying closely.

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